Certificate-based Authentication to JSTOR Spencer W. Thomas Dec 1, 2001

What is JSTOR? A digital archive of academic journals. Our constituents are –Scholars –Libraries –Publishers Our mission is to –Improve access –Provide comprehensive and reliable archive –Preserve content –Reduce library costs –Help publishers and societies make transition to electronic publishing

Who has access to JSTOR? Individuals in the scholarly community have access to JSTOR through their affiliation with: –Academic and Research Institutions “faculty, students, staff and people physically present on campus” –Publisher Individual Access Programs

Authentication versus Authorization Cleanly separate (expensive) authentication from (cheap) authorization. Authentication = “who you are” Authorization = “what you can do” Authentication informs authorization. Authenticate once, authorize each request.

Current Authentication to JSTOR Users’ organizational affiliations (“site”) determine their access rights IP-based Scripted access –Remote access, publisher-mediated access Username/password –Individuals (maintained by publisher) –Sites w/o stable or distinguishable IP

Authorization to JSTOR Authentication produces “ticket” Ticket is user’s authorization to use JSTOR –Ticket stored as “cookie” or in URL –Ticket defines access rights –Ticket has defined lifetime

Certificates: Another Authentication Option Goal: provide a useful authentication option When IP-based access is impractical Mobile users Authentication can be transparent Certificate authentication happens upon entry to JSTOR, rest of JSTOR session is unchanged

JSTOR Certificate Pilot Implementation Object: get experience with cert-based auth Limited testing -- no “real users” yet Certificate Issuer maps to “site” Certs to be issued only to authorized users Supports “DLF” LDAP query protocol No support for revocation (yet) Available at

The Future of Authentication Not going to get easier. Certificates provide some hope –Mobile users –Reduce IP database maintenance –Potentially greater accountability

References –Terms & conditions, privacy policy, mission, etc. –Discussion of JSTOR authentication options (certificates section is generic at this point) –“DLF” query protocol for cert authentication.